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BERBER IN MOROCCO AND ALGERIA: REVIVAL OR DECAY?

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Abderrahman El Aissati
Tilburg University
The Netherlands

(This article was published in1993 in: AILA Review (Association Internationale de linguistique
appliquée), 10, Case Studies in Minority Languages, pp.88-109)

1.Introduction

The paucity of research in the domain of reversing language shift is noted by Fishman (1990:
5) who outlines a theoretical framework for reversing language shift. Among the few who have
been attempting to work in the direction of shift reversal is Giles et al. (1990: 51) who call for
`interventionist policies' in favor of planning for the survival of minority languages. Main
concerns of research in the domain of language loss and language maintenance have been with
languages in the way of extinction, processes of loss and shift, among others, but seldom on
reversing language shift. The present paper is an attempt to report on Berber revival
movement(s) in Morocco and Algeria as an illustration of attempts at reversing language shift.

The presence of Arabic in North Africa dates back to the seventh century A.D. Since then,
this language has been gaining prestige as it is the language of the Koran, of science, and the
official language of the State. Morocco and Algeria have expressed their intentions of
Arabicization in their constitutions as early as 1961 (Hammoud, 1983:19) and 1962 (Fougère,
1963: 11) respectively. In addition to its official and institutional support, the spread of Arabic
has been made easy by the low status of Berber, the oldest recorded indigenous language of
peoples from this area, and which has survived mainly as an oral language.

In this article, I examine the contact situation between Arabic and Berber in Morocco and
Algeria. In particular, I will address the question of the maintenance of Berber in these two
countries, show how ethnic revival movements are gradually gaining ground, and present their
claims and points of view. In addition to this informative aspect of the paper, I will also analyze
the perspectives of these movements in the light of factors considered as key elements in the
investigation of language-and-group contact situations. For this end, I will adopt Giles et al
(1977) concept of `ethnolinguistic vitality', and the basic tenets of Tajfel's (1974), and Tajfel and
Turner's (1986) theory of intergroup relations. The paper will close with a brief consideration of
the situation of Berber in Morocco and Algeria in light of the proposal formulated in Fishman
(1990) about the stages for reversing language shift. These issues outlined above will be
addressed after a brief review of the literature on language shift in Berber speaking
communities.

2.Review of the literature

Very little has been written on the shift from Berber to Arabic. Youssi (1989: 264-81)
analyzes the contact situation between Arabic and Berber by examining the use of Berber by the
media in Morocco. He notes the massive borrowings from Classical Arabic into Berber,
especially in the domains of science, technology, social sciences, and other cultural fields. He
concludes that (p.278):
"It seems that it is at the time when Berber speakers have gained an acute awareness of the state
of acculturation via linguistic loss and/or inadequacy that the task of guarding the language
against wasting away --let alone its promotion to the status of a "standard language"-- may seem
next to impossible at this stage of the contact between BL [Berber Language] and the varieties
of Arabic and Fr[ench]"

Bentahila and Davies (1992) examine the language contact situation in Morocco between
Berber, Arabic, and French, and argue that Berbers illustrate a case of convergence towards
Arabic, while the Jewish community illustrates the divergence from Arabic towards French. The
data for their analysis were drawn from questionnaires distributed to 68 Moroccan Jews, 200
bilinguals fluent in both Berber and Arabic, and to 57 non-Berber speakers whose parents or
grandparents speak Berber, as well as from interviews with 65 Berber-Arabic bilinguals. In the
introduction to their article they note (p.197) that "in both groups [Jewish and Berber] a process
of language shift is currently under way, whereby the traditional home language is being
abandoned." After examining their data, the authors conclude that the language shift of the
Jewish community and the Berbers (not the Berber community) "seems to be readily accepted
and not regretted in the community concerned, probably because it is not felt to affect identity,
which is secure before and after the shift." They add that "In both cases the attitude to the
abandoned language seems to be highly pragmatic; the languages are considered not as symbols,
but simply as tools to be maintained just as long as they are needed." (p.210).

The extent to which the conclusions above can be generalized is not quite clear, at least if we
consider a number of points. First, the ratio of the sample studied to that of the Berber
community is too small: 200 to about 10 000,000, or 0.002%. Secondly, the situation of Berber,
like that of natural languages, is a dynamic one, and to analyze it one has to take into
consideration a number of factors. For example, one has to be aware that language shifters might
`go back' to their group even when they don't speak the language of that group any more. A third
point has to do with the method of data collection. It is not uncommon in sociolinguistic
literature to come across cautionary notes against the use of direct methods in eliciting data on
language behavior, since individuals may modify their behavior to suit whatever they think is fit
for the interviewer, or the researcher (Labov 1971, Giles et al. 1977). Sachdev and Bourhis
(1990: 224), for example note that "obtaining self-reports of language use are not sufficient for a
thorough assessment of the actual language behavior of individual speakers." An additional
point has to do with the geographical area where the investigation was conducted. It is very
likely that a large number of the people who already moved to urban areas where Arabic is the
most widely used language of everyday communication did so because they previously had
favorable attitudes towards Arabic language and culture. As such, they cannot be representative
of the large masses of people who stayed on their traditional grounds. The relevance of this point
will become clear when we consider the role of demography and geographical concentration in
ethnolinguistic vitality (see 4.1).

3.Theoretical framework

Throughout this article I will be referring to the Berber community as a whole, i.e., as an
ethnic community. This community does not necessarily form a homogeneous unit of analysis;
within it one can easily find members with different attitudes and different aspirations as far as
ethnic revival is concerned. Considering native speakers of Berber as an ethnic group is not all
unquestionable: there are at least four major Berber varieties with a low degree of mutual
intelligibility, especially between inhabitants of distant areas (Boukous: 1992: 42). A more
elaborate analysis would have to take into consideration the individuals that form the group(s)
since, after all, "it is people not categories that speak, and they speak to one another" (Hogg and
Abrams (1988: 201) in Sachdev and Bourhis (1990: 223). That is, a more cognitive-oriented
approach is needed, since "group level survival/non-survival is, none the less, often affected
through the minds and acts of individuals." (Giles et al 1990: 49). In this connection, it is
imperative to obtain data on language use, language preference, attitudes, etc., in order to have a
relatively well-founded assessment of language behavior, and reliable indications of group
membership.

Referring to Berbers as a group or as a community in this paper stems from the commonly
held belief in the literature on language and identity about language being crucial in group
identification. For example, Giles et al (1977:325) state that "ethnic groups are an example par
excellence of linguistic categorization since they are often found to manifest their distinctiveness
from each other by means of separate languages or dialects," and that linguistic categorizations
"generally connote ethnic exclusiveness and solidarity to native speakers, and, conversely
exclusion and opposition when used in ethnically mixed contexts." Fishman (1977) highlights
the importance and supremacy of language in ethnicity; he explains (p.25) that a distinct
language "is more likely than most symbols of ethnicity to become the symbol of ethnicity.
Language is the recorder of paternity, the expresser of patrimony and the carrier of
phenomenology."

Following this general theoretical consideration about the notion of a group, it is necessary to
give a brief account of how a group would interact with an `outgroup'. Understanding the nature
of this interaction is a major step towards understanding the prospects of Berber language and
community: will such a community survive, with a distinct language and culture, or will it
simply melt into the dominant community? The theoretical framework adopted for this purpose
is that of social identity theory as developed in Tajfel (1974, 1974a) and Tajfel and Turner
(1986). In addition to this, the notion of ethnolinguistic vitality (Giles et al. 1977) will be drawn
upon because of its importance in assessing the situation of ethnic groups and their chances of
survival as such. A brief account of the key notions adopted from these frameworks for the
purposes of the present paper is given below.

Ethnolinguistic Vitality Giles et al. (1977) define the vitality of an ethnic group and how
decisive it can be in predicting whether a group will continue or cease to exist:

"The vitality of an ethnolinguistic group is that which makes a group likely to behave as a
distinctive and active collective entity in intergroup situations. From this it is argued that
ethnolinguistic minorities that have little or no group vitality would eventually cease to exist as
distinctive groups."

The authors cite three variables which are subsumed under vitality: status, demography, and
institutional support. Under status fall the following factors: economic status, social status,
sociohistorical status, and language status. The demography factor includes the following:
whether or not the group has a national territory, whether or not members forming the group are
concentrated in the same area, and the proportion of the group to the other group(s). It also
subsumes other important pieces of information like the number of individuals within a group,
their birth rate, the number of mixed marriages, immigration, and emigration. Finally, the role
of the institutional support factor lies in accounting for the presence or absence of the language
of a group in domains like the mass media, education, government services, industry, religion,
and culture.

The account of vitality in the terms described above is what Giles et al. (1977) term as
`objective vitality'. As Giles et al. (1985) explain, "ethnolinguistic communities could be
meaningfully assessed according to this three-factored scheme on the basis of readily available
statistical data." They add (1985: 255) that the emergence of another, complementary,
`perceived vitality' or `subjective vitality' in the beginning of the eighties had as a goal "to take
into account individuals' cognitive representations of the societal conditions which impinge
upon them." Evaluating the importance of perceived vitality, they add that "it is through an
analysis of both subjectively- and objectively-interpreted group vitalities that one arrives at a
better understanding on inter-ethnic relations." They propose a `Subjective Vitality
Questionnaire' for the measurement of perceived vitality. The vitality of the Berber communities
presented here can be termed as an objective vitality. The only approximation to a subjective
vitality analysis will be found in the statements made by some cultural associations working for
the promotion of Berber language(s) and culture(s) (see section 5)

Ethnolinguistic vitality provides an instrument for measuring the chances a minority group
has to survive as a distinct group; however, to analyze the dynamics of ethnic minorities, how
and why they may strive to turn their status
into a more privileged one, a theory of group relationships is needed, to see whether these
groups are in a relation of peaceful cohabitation, of conflict, or whether one group attempts to
fuse into another, etc. The analytical tools adopted for this purpose in the present paper are
borrowed from the conceptual framework of the `social identity theory' (Tajfel, (1974), (1974a),
Tajfel and Turner (1986)). This theoretical framework has been used in a number of studies on
the linguistic behavior of individuals and groups of individuals like ethnic minorities and social
groups (e.g. Giles et al. 1977).

Tajfel and Turner (1986: 16) advocate the following characteristics of individuals and social
groups as the basic theoretical principles in their social identity theory:

(1) Individuals strive to achieve or to maintain a positive social identity.

(2) Positive social identity is based to a large extent on favorable comparisons that can be made
between the in-group and some relevant out-groups: the in-group must be perceived as
positively differentiated or distinct from the relevant out-groups.

(3) When social identity is unsatisfactory, individuals will strive either to leave their existing
group and join some more positively distinct group and/or to make their existing group more
positively distinct.

The strife for a positive social identity can take a number of ways. For example, individuals
may decide to improve their status by leaving their present, negatively valued group, or through
what has been termed `social mobility' (e.g. Fishman 1977). Another alternative is for the
members of the `subordinate' group to redefine some attributes that depict their group as
negative (accent, dialect, skin color, etc) and give positive definitions to these. An example is
the well known slogan of Black activists: `Black is beautiful' (Tajfel and turner, p.20). Tajfel and
Turner (1986) add a further avenue in this connection. They explain that striving for a positive
social identity can also take the form of direct social competition, whereby "the group members
may seek positive distinctiveness through direct competition with the out-group."

Cognitive alternatives

This brief review so far might suggest that social groups are motivated to seek a positive
social identity once they are dissatisfied with their present identity. Social identity theory
advocates that this is not the case. As Giles et al. (1977:319-20) explain,

"an inadequate social identity is not by itself a sufficient condition for advocating and provoking
change. Not only must members derive a negative social identity from their membership in a
particular group, they must also be aware, or become aware that cognitive alternatives to the
existing status relationship between it and the superior group are possible. Without the
awareness of cognitive alternatives, members of a group may accept, albeit reluctantly, a
negative social identity at least in terms of their membership with that particular group."

In addition to relying on the conceptual framework reviewed so far, an attempt is made at


clarifying the dynamics of the situation of Berber by analyzing some factors like religion and
politics, which are very powerful in shaping the fate of this language. In this connection, I will
give some details about the attitudes of the governments in both countries towards such
movements, as well as those of some intellectuals, largely representative of the mainstream
philosophy of education, politics, religion, etc. Finally, I will discuss the strategies followed by
revival activists to achieve their goals in light of a theoretical framework for reversing language
shift, recently proposed by Fishman (1990). First, here is an examination of the situation of
Berber in light of the components of the concept of `vitality'.

4.The vitality of Berber in Morocco and Algeria

I will examine the situation of Berber in Morocco and Algeria in light of the factors
enumerated under the heading of vitality in the previous section, namely: status, demography,
and institutional support.

4.1 Demographic factors

In this section I provide some information about Berber, the number of its native speakers,
and their distribution in Morocco and Algeria. Details about the birth rate, mixed marriages,
immigration, and emigration are not available since no linguistic census in these countries is
available. Figures usually encountered in the literature (e.g. Boukous 1978, 1992; Otten 1991)
are based on geographical data; inhabitants of rural areas are mainly Berber, immigrants from
traditionally Berber speaking areas are Berber. Surely, lack of demographic data is a loss in the
case of studying minority languages, and language planning issues (See de Vries 1990).

The term `Berber' denotes a language family of Afro-Asiatic descent, and of a Hamito-
Semitic origin. Its existence in North Africa dates back to at least 2000 years B.C. under
different names like `Tamacheq', `Tamaheq', `Tamazight', and more recently `Berber'. No native
speakers of Berber refer to their language as `Berber'; they usually refer to the varieties they
speak as `Takbaylit' (Kabyle spoken in the north of Algeria), Tarifit (the variety spoken in the
north of Morocco), Tamazight (spoken in the high Atlas, in the center of Morocco), Tashelhit
(spoken in the Anti-Atlas, in the south of Morocco), and Touareg (spoken in the Ahoggar, in the
south of Algeria, and in the northern parts of Tchad, Mali, and Niger). `Berber' is a coinage
dating far back into the history of North Africa. It may have been used to denote a non-latin, or a
non-Roman people starting with the rule of Rome over North-Africa from about 146 B.C.
(Chafiq, 1989:15), up to the present time, where it is still used almost exclusively in Arabic by
non-Berber speakers, and in foreign languages like French and English. A number of authors
prefer the appellation `Tamazight' to refer to the language, and `Amazigh'(Masc.) or `Tamazight'
(Fem.) to refer to a native speaker of the language.

The geographical domain of the use of Berber has been the whole of North Africa, from the
Siwa oasis in the west of Egypt to the west of Morocco, and from the Mediterranean coast to the
south of Niger (Bousquet, 1967: 15-16). Nowadays, the largest number of Imazighen , as native
speakers of Berber call themselves, live in Morocco and Algeria. A minority of Touareg still
lives in Mali, Niger, and Tchad (Chaker 1989: 10). The number of native speakers of Berber has
been a matter of estimates rather than of a linguistic census. In Morocco, the estimates of native
speakers of Berber range from about one third of the population (about 9000,000) to one half
(about 13 000,000) (Ben Tahila, 1992, Boukous, 1992,). Chaker (1989a: 238) estimates that a
minimum of 9 500,000 Moroccans are Berber speakers, about 4 500,000 Algerians speak
Kabyle as a native language, about 1 000,000 people from: Niger (500 000), Mali (400 000), the
south of Algeria (Ahaggar), Libya (Ajjer), Burkina Faso (Udalen) and Nigeria are Touareg
Berbers. A minority of Berbers (about 50 000) still lives in Tunisia, in Djerba and in the central
south of Tunisia. According to Otten (1991: 13), the total number of Berbers ranges from 15
000,000 to 20 000,000. Such repartition of these populations in islands of different sizes adds to
the problem of mutual intelligibility, which already exists between the major varieties of Berber
(Boukous 1992: 42).

In Morocco Berbers inhabit rural and mountainous areas like the Rif mountains, the High
Atlas mountains, the Anti Atlas mountains and the Sous Valley. In Algeria they are concentrated
in the Kabylie, the Mzab, and the Aures. It should be noted that there are large numbers of
Berbers in urban centers like Casablanca (20 to 22 % of the city population in 1952 (Adam
1972: 325), Agadir, Tangier, and Algiers. The importance of this concentration for ethnic revival
is highlighted in Giles et al. (1977: 313) citing Driedger and Church (1974):

"Minority group speakers who are concentrated in the same geographic area may stand a better
chance of surviving as a dynamic linguistic community by virtue of the fact that they are in
frequent verbal interaction and can maintain feelings of solidarity."

4.2 Status of Berber

Under the heading `status' Giles et al. (1977) include economic status, social status,
sociohistorical status, and language status. A brief examination of these factors follows.

4.2.1 Economic status:

To a large extent the Berber community in Morocco and in Algeria has control over its
economic situation. In urban Morocco, especially in the western part, native speakers of
Tashelhit (from the south of Morocco) are successful in maintaining small as well as large
businesses, such as shopkeeping, running restaurants, cafes, factories, etc. Berbers in Algeria
also have a monopoly of the grocery trade in major cities in the north of the country, as noted by
Adam (1972: 329):

"Like the Djerbans in Tunisia and the Mozabites in Algeria, the Soussi [native speakers of
Tashelhit] (Swasa in Arabic) have a quasi-monopoly of the grocery trade in the cities of northern
Morocco"

Adam (Op.Cit. pp.336-37) explains that in addition to the trades above, Berbers also take part
in the fabric trade, traditionally a monopoly of the Fassi (from Fes) community, and he notes the
large number of Soussi businessmen as well.

The Rif community in Morocco relies mainly on incomes of immigrant workers abroad
(more than 400 000 in Europe, mainly in France, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, and
Germany). As such, this community does not depend on interaction with the Arab community
for its survival, a point in favor of group- identity maintenance; yet, this large scale immigration
may severely affect the maintenance of Berber by the second and subsequent generations living
abroad.

The inhabitants of the Tamazight area are reported to rely less on immigration than other
Berber communities. Adam (Op.Cit.p.326) explains that:

"The Imazighen [native speakers of Tamazight variety of Berber] rarely immigrate. They seem
to have achieved a relatively satisfactory balance between demography and natural resources.
Pastoral economy remains prosperous, in spite of the extension of cultivated land and the
increasing difficulty of travelling with the flocks. The birth rate seems much lower than that of
the country as a whole [...]. Surplus population is absorbed by the nearby cities, Fes, Meknes,
even Kenitra, and by the mines of the region."

The Kabyle area has also been a platform for massive emigration. Since the beginning of the
twentieth century, France has found a convenient supply of workers for its industry and
agriculture in this area. A large number of Kabyles have chosen to run their own businesses like
cafes and restaurants in France as well as in Algeria (Chaker 1989). The Touareg community in
the Ahaggar in southern Algeria has been leading a nomadic life.

This being said, one has to take into account the direction which economic development is
taking, namely towards mass production, urbanization, sciences of information, etc., and how it
can affect the `local' control of economic resources.

A final note about the impact of emigration on the Berber community is in order. Adam
(Op.Cit. pp.340-41) notes the high solidarity between members of the Shleuh community (from
Sous) in Casablanca, and their avoidance of intermarriages with other groups. Such a remark
might of course apply more to first generation than to second and subsequent generations of
Berbers, a case which is quite common among ethnic minorities. The author comments on the
domain of this Shleuh solidarity: "This solidarity extends beyond tribal boundaries, to
encompass all those who speak Tashelhit. This is a form of behavior characteristic of minority
groups, who must struggle for recognition and are aware that solidarity is the condition of
success."
4.2.2 Social status:

Giles et al (1977) define this factor as "the degree of esteem a linguistic group affords itself."
In general, and as can be expected from the language status (see below), Berber is held in low
esteem. Remarks such as "You cannot earn your bread by speaking Berber," "Berber is not a
language, but a dialect [has no grammar, no potentials, etc.]" are commonly voiced by Berbers
and Arabs alike. However, among the educated youth, it has been gaining prestige, and
providing a source of pride.

On the whole, one can say that the status of Berber is higher in Algeria than it is in Morocco.
Speaking of the Kabyle people, Bousquet (1967: 76) states that: "In North Africa, the Kabyle
community derives a unique sense of pride from its being Berber, unlike other Berber
communities that have, reportedly, sought assimilation with the prestigious Arab community."

Recently, however, with publications on and in Berber, the creation of societies for the
promotion of Berber, large number of Berbers from different communities are changing their
minds in favor of a more positive image of their culture and language.

4.2.3 Language status:

Berber in Morocco and Algeria has a low status, and is confined to use in mainly the home,
the street, and family circles. It has no official status whatsoever, and is not mentioned in the
constitutions of Algeria or Morocco, not even as a national language. In fact, the 1963
Constitution of Algeria has put so much emphasis on the Arab identity of the country: Article 2
states that `Algeria is an integral part of the Arab Maghreb', while Article 5 says that `Arabic is
the national and official language of the State', and Article 76 expresses the post-independence
concern about language policy, namely that `the effective realization of Arabicization must take
place as soon as possible' (Fougère, 1963:11). The constitution of Morocco simply states that
Arabic is `the official language of the kingdom'.

There are daily radio broadcasts in Morocco diffused in the three main Berber varieties
between noon and midnight, offering a variety of programs like talk shows, music, and news
bulletins (Youssi, 1990). In Morocco the language in question has no share in TV broadcasts,
whereas, very recently in Algeria, two daily TV news broadcasts are diffused in Berber.

4.2.4 Sociohistorical status

The importance of the sociohistorical factor in ethnolinguistic vitality is its effect on the
present, namely that "historical instances can be used as mobilizing symbols [...] to inspire
individuals to bind together as group members in the present." (Giles et al., 1977:311). In the
case of Morocco and Algeria, the sociohistorical factor plays conflicting roles : on the one hand
it allows awareness of a common `glorious' past to Berbers before the coming of Islam, while on
the other hand it gives awareness of a common fate of Moroccans in Moroccon history and
Algerians in Algerian history by referring to the war for independence against the French and
Spanish colonization, and in particular, the fight against the application of the Berber Decree in
1930 in MNorocco, which was resisted by both Berbers and Arabs (Brown, 1972). Of course
there are other conflicting historical instances in the case of Morocco and Algeria, but they are
not as salient as the ones mentioned above, since they are seldom brought up in discussions of
revival movements in Morocco.
A sense of pride is derived from knowing that names like Apulus, Tertatus, St Augustinus,
Juba II, Abdelkrim Al Khattabi, and others were Berber, as well as some of the dynasties that
ruled Morocco formerly (like the Al Moravids). Such knowledge certainly differs from what is
found in school material, especially at the primary school level, where emphasis is put on the
unified, glorious Arab and Muslim history, which may lead children of Berber-speaking parents
to claim their ancestors were Arab. Bentahila and Davies (1992: 201) state "that there were also
claims [among their informants] that Arabic was the language of their ancestors, even in cases
where the immediately ascending generation did not know Arabic!"

4.3 Institutional support

According to Giles et al. (1977) the vitality of a linguistic `minority' is largely dependent on
the representation of its language in a number of institutional settings, among which are the
following: the mass media, parliament, governmental departments and services, the armed
forces, and the state supported arts. Giles et al. argue that the inclusion of the minority language
in the educational system at various levels is "of crucial importance for the vitality of
ethnolinguistic groups. Indeed, the number of minority language medium schools and the
number of speakers they produce are often scrutinized by linguistic minority group members
who feel that `une langue qu'on n'enseigne pas est une langue qu'on tue'."

Proponents of the revival movement in Morocco and Algeria are well aware of the
importance of institutional support in shaping the fate of Berber language and culture. Their
claims, which are detailed in the section on Revival movements, show the extent of this
awareness. In the present section I will simply give a brief account of the sociolinguistic
situation of Morocco by exposing the domains where Berber is used in order to give an idea
about the weight of institutional support of this language.

4.3.1 Education

Berber has no place in the educational system in Morocco, especially at the primary and
secondary school levels. In state schools, the first language taught is Standard Arabic, followed
by French. At the secondary school level, English, Spanish, or German is introduced. At the
university level, students preparing memoirs for their graduation (the acquisition of a Licence-es
Lettres) in language and literature departments can choose (an) aspect(s) of Berber as the subject
of their memoir, if their supervisor has no objection to that. For their MA dissertations (Diplome
des Etudes Superieures), candidates can also make Berber the subject of their investigation, and
so can Ph.D candidates. So far, a large number of memoirs, theses, and dissertations have been
written on this language (see Appendix 1).

4.3.2 Religion

Berber is used usually at the end of prayers to express wishes, while Koranic verses are
recited in Arabic. Many monolingual Berbers end up learning a few verses from the Koran as
their first, and perhaps last, exposition to Classical Arabic. In collective prayers, especially on
Friday, the Imam preaches in Classical Arabic as a rule, but in some Berber monolingual areas,
the preaching is done in the local variety of Berber. Again, the prayers are conducted in
Classical Arabic, except for petitions, which are optional.
In the early periods of Islam in North Africa, writings on religious matters were effected in
Berber by authors like Ibn Toumart, from the AlMohades dynasty (died 1128; Bousquet, 1967:
65), M.Awzal (seventh century A.D.), and others. M.Awzal's writings are perhaps the most
eminent of these (Ousous and Farhati, 1992: 9).

4.3.3 Sociolinguistic profile

To sum up the sociolinguistic profile of Berber in Morocco, I reproduce a table from


Boukous (1978: 23), which shows the domains of use of this language as well as the other three
major varieties coexisting in Morocco.

Insert Table 1 here

A few remarks about this chart are in order. First, there has been a boom of recordings,
especially on tape, of Berber songs, most of which are accessible both inside and outside
Morocco. Second, Berber has been used in at least one magazine in Morocco (Amazigh between
1980 and 1982) and is still used in the monthly newspapers Tasafut, Adrar, and Al-Ra'y Al-
Sari_. Another remark brought to my attention by a participant in this conference is the absence
of Spanish from the table. This language is present mainly in areas neighboring Spanish
enclaves (like Melilla or Ceuta). Apart from these observations, very little has changed in the
sociolinguistic profile since the elaboration of the table above in 1978, which means that Berber
has not gained much since, and has not lost much either.

The table above also applies to the case of Berber in Algeria, with a few amendments: 1/
Kabyle is used in the theater domain (translation of Becket, Brecht, and Moliere), and 2/
Records of Kabyle songs are available in Kabyle (Idir, Djurdjura, Ait Menguellet, Ferhat, etc.).

After the examination of the main factors which, according to Giles et al. (1977), determine
the degree of vitality of an ethnic group, the following table can provide an approximate
evaluation of the vitality of the Berber community in Morocco and Algeria. The attributes of
vitality range from Low to High with three intermediate levels: Medium, Low-Medium, and
High-Medium.

Insert table 2 here

So far, I have simply described the present situation of Berber. The general idea we can have
from looking at the table above is that revival movements in Morocco and Algeria have a long
way to go in order to change the situation of Berber. The relatively low vitality of the Berber
community may be an incentive to ethnic revival movements. It can be an important factor in
explaining the rise of these movements, as will become clear below.

5. Revival Movements in Morocco and Algeria

In the remaining part of this paper, an attempt is made at answering the following questions:
Are there any revival movements in Morocco and Algeria? And if yes, how do they manifest
themselves? What are their causes? How are they reacted to? and how successful can they be?
To answer these questions, I shall provide data on revival movements in these two countries,
explain why and how they started, and highlight their most salient strategies. After that, I shall
attempt to characterize the future of these revival movements in the light of Fishman's (1990)
framework for reversing language shift.

In the following section I will argue that the Berber community has a cognitive alternative of
which at least the proponents of ethnic revival are aware, and which largely supports their
revival movements.

5.1 `cognitive alternatives' as prerequisites to revival movements

Revival movements in Morocco, like Algeria, were started by a small nucleus of


intellectuals, equipped with knowledge of other languages than Arabic and Berber, and of
`modern' theories of language studies. Structural analyses of language(s) and eventually of
culture(s) does provide an alternative to the widely disseminated attributes of Arabic among
Arab Nationists, as the `most eloquent', `beautiful', `sacred' language par excellence, to name but
a few such mystifying adjectives.

Not all revival activists had to wait until they go abroad to come in contact with a different
culture. The Kabylie area in Algeria has benefitted from French education programs under
colonisation, whereby a large number of native speakers of Berber were taught in French
schools (Lacoste and Lacoste, 1980). Such schooling necessarily offered different evaluations of
Arabic, if only indirectly, by presenting a different language with a high prestige and power: the
French language.

In Morocco, the French colonization did not last long, compared to Algeria: 44 years and 130
years respectively. The French government attempted a policy of divide-and-rule by the
elaboration of the famous Berber Decree (Dahir Berbère) in 1930. The rationale of such a decree
was to provide separate schooling for Berbers and Arabs, as was the case in Algeria, namely in
the Grande Kabylie (Brown, 1972). Such a policy was a failure, and even fired backwards:
Arabs and Berbers alike engaged in armed struggle against the French and the Spanish presence
in Morocco.

The two factors mentioned in this section, namely knowledge of foreign languages, scientific
knowledge of ones native language, an uncovering of historical sources of pride in being Berber
may have been the most salient ones, though not the the only ones, that offered a cognitive
alternative to the low estimated Berber language and culture. With the availability of this
alternative, revival movements could state their demands openly, since they can defend them.

5.2 Revival movements in Morocco:

In Morocco, movements in support of a `renaissance' of the Berber language and culture have
started at least as early as 1967, with the foundation of `Association Marocaine pour la
recherche et l'echange culturels' (Ouazzi, 1992:11). Other foundations have come into existence,
and there are today at least ten such associations partitioned all over Morocco (Agadir, Tata,
Goulmima, Casablanca, Rabat, Tangier, Nador, etc). The claims of these associations can be
summed up in the following (Ouazzi, Op.cit.)

1/ Necessity of including Berber as a national language in the Moroccan constitution

2/ Founding of institutes for research on and teaching of Berber, with the primary concern to
3/ Granting a place for Berber in the mass media.

4/ Encouraging/supporting production and creative work in Berber.

5/ Preparation/elaboration of teaching material for Berber

At the political level, there are at least two parties which are considered as active in a Berber
revival. The first one "Al-Haraka Al-Chaabiyya" (The Popular Movement) edited the first issue
of the Berber journal Amazigh in 1980, which was banned after its ninth monthly issue. The
Popular Movement has plead in vain for the teaching of Berber. The second political party is
"Al-Haraka Al-Wataniyya Al-Chaabiyya" (The National Popular Movement). No data are
available to me about what this party might have done in this connection. The two parties
together had about 13% of the votes in the national elections of local representatives in 1982,
while they had about 23% in the same elections in October 1992.

Cultural associations are very active in organizing cultural manifestations. The Summer
Institute of Agadir organizes a yearly congres dedicated to the Berber question. The
"Association Nouvelle de la Culture et des Arts Populaires" edits the monthly Berber newspaper
Tasafut whose first issue appeared in December 1991, and is edited in Arabic, French and
Berber. A text in Berber is usually written in the Arabic script, but sometimes also in the Latin
alphabet. Its circulation approximates 7,000 per month. An independent newspaper Adrar,
publishing in Berber as well as in Arabic, has been in circulation since 1984. Al-Ra'y Al-Sari_ is
a third regular publication working in favor of a Berber revival. To my knowledge, these are the
only papers concerned with Berber to be published at the present time in Morocco.

On the whole, revival movements in Morocco have been peaceful. The demands of political
parties and other foundations have been in the form of written and oral peaceful protests. In the
history of modern Morocco, no rioting or demonstrations involving Berber revival movements
have been recorded, unlike in Algeria, as will become clear below.

5.3 Revival movements in Algeria

In Algeria, writings concerned with Berber have started as early as the nineteenth century
(Chaker 1989: 19). Claims for a Berber revival were recorded in 1945 in the Kabyle area
(Benbrahim, quoted in Otten, 1992), and in 1954, the first Berber cultural association "Tiwizi i
Tamazight" (Collective work for Berber) was to see the day in Paris (Otten, Op.Cit.). In 1967,
again in Paris, a more radical association "Agraw I-mazighen" (Assembly/Academy of Berbers)
was founded. In 1973, an academic association for the study of Berber was created: "Groupe
d'études berbères de l'Université Paris-VIII," and in 1978 came "Imedyazen", another
association also founded in France. The University of Tizi Ouzou had a chair for Berber in the
end of the 80's. A department of Berber studies has recently opened at the university of Bougie.
Such movements are not as recent as the above dates suggest. Chaker (1989: 20) notes that the
feel for a Berber identity has been attested quite early in the history of the Maghreb, and in
particular in Algeria:

"Le sentiment identitaire berbère a [...] des racines historiques anciennes et se manifeste bien
avant l'époque contemporaine."
The 1980 uprise of the Kabyle population following the banning of a lecture by the late
Berber scholar Mouloud Mammeri, claimed affirmative action from the government in favor of
Berber. The uprise was an index of the dissatisfaction experienced by Imazighen about the
situation of their native language (Chaker, 1990). Its major claims were: 1/ Children should be
literate in Berber 2/ Berber should be made a subject of study at the university level, 3/ It should
be given more importance in the media and 4/ It should also be used in publications of different
sorts (Lacoste-Dujardin and Lacoste 1984: 35). A corollary result of this uprise was the edition
of a Berber newspaper Tafsut (Spring, referring to the spring of 1980, when the uprise took
place (Otten, Op.Cit.: 23)). The Algerian League for Human Rights organized a demonstration
on May 10, 1990, with the motto "National Unity in differences and pluralism."

In addition to the cultural scene, revival movements at the political level in Algeria were
more expressive than in Morocco. In (1969) the clandestine "Front de Forces Socialistes" was
founded, and was officially recognized only in 1989. In June 1990, it edited the first issue of a
Berber newspaper Amaynut (Otten, Op.Cit.: 24).

In 1989, the Berber political party "Rassemblement pour la culture et la democratie (RCD)"
(Agraw i Yidles d Tugdut) was founded, partly as a reaction of the Front de Liberation National
(FLN), the then unique ruling party, to the growing Muslim extremist movement the "Front
Islamique pour le Salut" (FIS) (Otten. Op.Cit.,). In 1989 it edited the first issue of a Berber
newspaper Asalu (path through the snow). In the second week of December 1991, Premier
A.Ghozali of Algeria made a promise that the Algerian television will allow for news bulletins
in Berber, and, in fact, the national television has recently begun to diffuse two daily news
bullettins in Berber.

After this brief review of the demands of Berber revival activists, it is necessary to give an
account of how these are reacted to. The attitudes reviewed here are those voiced mainly by
intellectuals in Morocco and Algeria. A large scale field work is needed to have a clear idea of
what the populations in these countries think of these movements.

5.4. Attitudes towards revival movements

In the absence of any large scale investigation of the attitudes of Moroccans and Algerians
towards the revival of Berber, I will provide a survey of some commonly voiced and heard
opinions about the issue at hand. Because I do not have enough data on attitudes among
Algerian intellectuals, the following discussion bears almost exclusively on the Moroccan side.

5.4.1 Positive attitudes:

One can easily observe that it is among Berber (university) students that positive attitudes
towards the Berber language and culture prevail, by looking at the number of memoirs and
theses written on Berber related topics (See Appendix). Such attitudes can be expected at this
level partly because of the availability of subjects like linguistics in the university curricula.
Students learn about how all natural languages are governed by a grammar, and about the
capacity of any human language to express what its community needs to express. Such
knowledge may help them question the legitimacy of the situation of their native language, and
look for an alternative.

Some leftist political parties have come to recognise the well-foundedness of the claims for
Berber revival. For example, the "Parti pour le Progrès et Socialisme" (PPS) considers the strife
for the revival of Berber as part of the strife for social equality. However, not all leftists view the
Berber issue with a positive look, as will become clear below.
5.4.2 Negative attitudes.

The claims of revival movements have been met with various forms of contempt, charges of
separatism, and failure to be loyal to the Arab and Islamic heritage.

Among intellectuals, and as can be expected, attitudes differ. Belakziz, a writer and a
proponent of Arab nationism, considers the plea for Berber revival as "an annoying shriek"!,
while El Jabiri calls for a voluntary genocide of Berber as well as Moroccan Arabic, and
declares "When I was Berber, I had an inferiority complex" (Hendayen, 1992). Al-Azhar simply
sees the revival movement as "a separatist movement that hinders the march towards the Arab
unity, and that its proponents are simply expressing the claims of a rising bourgeoisie" (Ouazzi,
1992: 11). These intellectuals are in favor of a `cultural dictatorship' whereby Arabic and the
Arab nationism would be the only viable objectives for the strife of every Moroccan. These
opinions are representative of a large number of intellectuals, namely those that see the only
outlet for the present `Arab crisis' in a reunification of Arabs.

Some of the most prominent and commonly cited arguments against the recognition -let
alone revival- of Berber are given below. These are extracted from the literature (e.g. Al Azhar,
1984), as well as from personal experiences.

5.4.2.1 Arab nationism

a/ Arabic is part of the national heritage of Morocco, Algeria, and other Muslim countries
(where Arabic is used), and should be a source of pride, rather than an `adversary' to compete
with.

b/ Arabic is a sacred language, the language of the Koran and the Islamic tradition, as well as the
language of literature par excellence, and any attempt to decrease its importance is a direct threat
to what it stands for.

c/ Arabic and Islam are the most efficient weapons for a pan-Arab renaissance. They guarantee
the unity of the Arab world, for which many politicians (e.g. the late Gamal Abd al Nasir of
Egypt, and the present Muammar Qaddafi of Lybia) and intellectuals (e.g. the late Muhammad
Abduh and Gamal Al Dine Al Afghani) have been longing for.

This argument is voiced by Moroccan intellectuals like A. Belakziz, M. Al Jabiri, and A. Al


Azhar, to cite but a few who have made their stands public in various writings and conferences.
Al Azhar (1984), for example, agrees with Al Jabiri in his famous declaration pleading for the
genocide of Moroccan Arabic and Berber as a solution to education problems. Bounfour (1985:
518) explains how `Berberism' is the scape goat for all kinds of Arabo-Islamic unitarian
movements:

"De ce point de vue toute vélléité de discussion, ou toute idée qui risque de toucher de près ou
de loin à la conscience unitaire est inadmissible et doit être combattue. Il en est ainsi du
berbérisme."
5.4.2.2 The status of Berber as a `language'

a/ Berber is a spoken variety with no grammar, no written form, and no literature. It should not
compete with Arabic, which does have a large body of literature, and is the language in which
Allah chose to reveal the Koran to his prophet.

b/ Berber cannot help for social mobility. Its revival will simply be an additional burden for
those who will have to learn it.

c/ There are at least four major varieties of Berber: which one is aimed at when issues of revival
are addressed?

5.4.2.3 Patriotism

This argument is mainly based on a historical reality witnessed by Morocco: "claims for
Berber revival are a continuity for the ex-coloniser's policy of separating Arab Moroccans from
Berber Moroccans, and Arab Algerians from Berber Algerians." This policy was made explicit
by the Berber Decree elaborated on May 16, 1930 in Morocco, and by the massive schooling of
the Kabyle population in French schools. The arguments of opponents of revival movements
hinge on two main aspects: Islam and Arabic, and perhaps more on the first than on the second.

The factors cited above might not be exhaustive, but they give a general idea about the size
and amount of the problems that face proponents of revival movements. These factors have
different weights; while some of them can be neutralised by eventual wide range schooling,
others are mainly a matter of stand adopted by those who benefit from it, and who will not easily
give away their positions.

5.4.3 Official attitudes

The ignorance of the situation of Berber by the authorities has been a target for revival
movements. Neither the constitution of Algeria nor that of Morocco mention Berber as a
national language. The educational authorities have never conducted any sort of investigation
involving Berber. In short, one can say that the official procedure in both countries has been to
ignore the existence of a language different from Arabic, and, in a number of cases, to act only
to repress cultural activities and to censure journals or periodicals that show a `high tendency'
towards Berberism. However, one cannot overlook the fact that there are no laws against the use
or study of Berber in either Morocco or Algeria.

Repression of revival movements has been frequently carried out in Algeria. there were thirty
four interventions of the elite troops in the Kabyle area between 1980 and 1985 (Otten,
1991:24). These repressive measures are not surprising; rather, they fall in the range of reactions
of those who see their interests threatened by such movements. Fishman (1985: 72) observes
that "No one, it seems, likes language loyalty movements, unless they or their favorite causes
can profit or gain from them. And yet such movements abound and their sight is not in end!"

5.5 `Objective' difficulties for a revival of Berber:

In this section I propose to deal with some problems which stand in the way of revival
activists regardless of the attitudes of opponents of these movements. These are mainly language
dependent `difficulties'.

5.5.1 language variation

Variation within Berber is not a special characteristic of this language, but simply a normal
phenomenon exhibited by human natural languages. Yet, in the case of Berber, it poses an
additional problem to its speakers as far as intercommunication is concerned, mainly because of
the absence of a standard form to use as a lingua franca. There are hopes among revival activists
to elaborate a "unified" Berber for all its speakers. Chaker (1989: 131), argues for a different
approach, namely that Berberists should first concentrate on elaborating their local varieties of
Berber.

5.5.2 Standardization

Any attempts of standardization will be faced with the issue of variation discussed above.
Such variation may result in the elaboration of five standard varieties at least (Kabyle, Tarifit,
Tamazight, Tashelhit, and Touareg). This outcome may not be accepted by all linguists,
especially since most of Berber varieties share a large number of lexical entries, morphological,
and syntactic rules. The main differences between them being phonological (e.g. spirantization
in Kabyle and Tarifit).

5.5.3 Lack of material for teaching

There are a few publications for the teaching of Berber. Of course, many more are needed,
and given the present state of the revival movements, one may reasonably expect more
publications in this domain. However, without official support for the elaboration of school
material it is difficult to see how far individual initiatives can go in this domain.

After this brief look at factors for and against the success of Berber revival movements, it
becomes clear that the road for these movements is not an easy one. Additional factors that are
important in throwing some light on the fate of the movements in question have to do with the
policies followed by ethnic activists. I will look at these and compare them to the proposed
policy of reversing language shift in Fishman (1990).

6. Can reversing language shift in the case of Berber succeed?

Despite the difficulties outlined in the previous sections, and others that I may have
overlooked, there are a few publications that help in the process of Berber revival. Chief among
these is, perhaps, the availability of a few dictionaries and lexicons which will definitely be
crucial in any attempt of standardization of the language in question. These dictionaries cover
most of the major varieties of Berber. In addition to dictionaries, a few textbooks for
teaching/learning Berber have been elaborated.

Apart from academic material, there has been a growing number of publications in art,
namely poetry and short stories. Chaker (1987: 28) speaks of the existence of a Berber literature,
and how Berber has been (re)introduced to the realm of written codes:

"Et l'on peut parler d'une litterature écrite berbère. Elle est, bien sûr, encore modeste [...]. Le
berbère sort donc peu à peu de l'univers de la stricte oralité. L'évolution est bien avancée en
Kabylie, mais elle aussi perceptible au Maroc et dans le reste du domaine berbère."

It is perhaps impossible to precisely predict the ultimate fate of the Berber revival
movement(s). That is, the answer to the question heading this section is by necessity a difficult
one, for the simple reason that it depends on a wealth of intertwined factors. For example,
political tolerance which can help revival movement activists depends on social tendencies of
the community, e.g. whether it will be led by Muslim extremists, or proponents of a `western'
democracy, or other. What I propose in this section is simply to look at the demands and
practices of revival activists through their organizations, which were already given above, and
see how they compare to the stages for a successful language maintenance outlined in Fishman
(1990).

In his attempt to frame a theory for reversing language shift (RLS), Fishman (1990)
proposes eight necessary but not sufficient stages. These are given below together with brief
statements about the actual policy/strategies of Berber activists.

Stage 8:
This is the "rock bottom stage at which RLS can begin once adequate ideological
clarification has been attained." Fishman (1990: 19). At this stage, it is important to assemble
material about the language in question, and to develop formal means to account for the
grammar of the language per se. This is attested in the case of Berber in Morocco and Algeria,
where a variety of grammar books and teaching material has already seen the day .

Stage 7:
This stage consists of gratifying public activities such as ceremonies, theater, readings,
songfests, etc. These activities are mostly carried out by elderly people (defined by the author as
`past child-bearing age'). They are quite common in the life of the Berber communities. The use
of this stage lies in the possibility that it may involve younger generations. Yet, it cannot
guarantee any transmissibility to subsequent generations, a concern which is the prominent
charateristic of the following stage.

Stage 6:
The nature of this stage is explained and its importance emphasized in Fishman (1990: 20):

"This stage consists of family-, neighbourhood-, community-reinforcement (and of organised


RLS activity squarely aimed at each of the foregoing) and constitutes the heart of the entire RLS
venture."

The necessity of transmitting the language and cultural heritage to subsequent generations to
guarantee the survival of endangered languages is also highlighted in Fishman (1989: 400):
"Among endangered languages the haemorrhages in the realm of home and immediate
community must be stopped first and quickly."
The transmission of the linguistic heritage to subsequent generations is indeed the essence of
maintaining a community and its language. The feasiblity of this stage is quite another matter.
In rural areas, the domains of use of Berber are probably not threatened by a complete shift to
Arabic, but a lot needs to be done to secure at least as many social platforms for the endangered
language as possible. This does not always happen without different types of confrontations with
well established norms. For example, in monolingual rural Berber areas, the speech given at the
weekly Friday prayers was carried out in Berber. Nowadays, more and more Imams give that
speech in Arabic. The speech is usually distributed by the ministry in charge of religious
matters. Attempts to give the speech in Arabic and Berber will undoubtedly be objected to both
by religious opposition and by government officials.

In urban areas, on the other hand, a shift from Berber to Arabic might be well under way,
especially among second generation children. These will usually have to share playgrounds,
school yards, buses, etc. with Arabic dominant children, resulting in a restriction of domains of
use for Berber.

Stage 5:
In the present stage importance is given to developing formal linguistic means for
socialisation, mainly literacy, via a kind of schooling, which does not aim at uprooting the
official shool system -usually working in the majority language. Berber organizations have been
continuously pleading for the teaching of Berber. So far, however, no school has Berber in its
curriculum.

The following stages (4 - 1) are quite different from the previous ones in that they bring RLS
movements towards a more direct confrontation with the dominant language/group.

Stage 4:
The main objective of this stage is to cater for education needs of the native speakers of the
endangered language by means of formal schooling. Such schooling entails heavy material
costs, which are reduced if the individuals in question are concentrated, and if the authorities
offer to help.
As said above, no school has Berber in its curriculum.

Stage 3:
In the words of Fishman (1990: 24), "This stage pertains to the work sphere in general, but it
is at its most powerful in connection with the higher, more influencial work sphere which cannot
be contained within Xish neighborhood/community limits." The importance of the work domain
can contribute towards the success of RLS, but only indirectly (unlike stage 6 where care is
taken of lower order domains of language use such as the family and the neighborhood).
I have already dealt with the work situation in the Berber community in the section on its
economic status (see 4.2.1). As an addition here, it is worth noting that Berber is not used in
work contexts with an administrative and official aspect.

Stage 2:
The local mass media form the main part of this stage which also includes `lower
governmental services'. The media, being local, would help RLS by their penetration into
domains like the homes and the neighborhood, which are key areas for RLS as was explained
under stage 6.

Revival activists in Morocco and Algeria have been continuously pressing for a place on their
respective national televisions and radios. As already mentioned there are regular radio
broadcasts in the three main varieties of Berber in Morocco, and in Kabyle in Algeria as well as
a television broadcast of the main news in Kabyle. Yet, these broadcasts do not really fulfill the
function of being local; they are broadcasted at the national level, and they are not concerned
with the home and the neighborhood.
Stage 1:
As most of the previous stages, the present one also draws its merit from how much it
contributes to stage 6. At this stage the cultural autonomy of the endangered community is
recognised and its language is used at the different levels of government, education, and media.

From the discussion of the situation of Berber in previous sections, it becomes clear that the
state of affairs depicted in stage 1 is not within reach of the Berber community, but it is a goal
for revival activists.

To use these stages as milestones, one may say the Berber activists are somewhere in stage 7.
In other words, at the beginning of their march.

7. Conclusion

Revival movements in Morocco and Algeria do have a long way to go before reaching the
minimum requirements for a stable bilingualism and biculturalism, if such stability is possible. I
have already highlighted the different kinds of opposition these movements encounter (political,
religious, ideological, etc.), which, added to problems relating to the status of the language (oral,
low social status) form major hindrances for a reversal of language shift. On top of this, it seems
that these movements, at least at the present time, do not pay enough attention to the problem of
transmissibility of the cultural and linguistic heritage to younger generations.

I close this paper with a warning note by Fishman (1989, 1990) whereby he defends the view
that language revival of minorities should be more oriented towards the intimate domains of the
home and the neighborhood, and should avoid `arenas of power and visibility'... Will the Berber
activists stop at this level? What would happen if they do not? Or probably, one should ask: can
ethnic activists be satisfied by a second order language status, and , perhaps inevitably, a second
order social identity?

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Ousous, M. and M.Farhati. 1992. Al-Adabu Al-Amaaziighiyyu wa Al-Tadwiinu. Tasafut 3.


(Berber Literature and Documentation). Rabat: Matbaatu Al-Risaalati.

Otten, R. 1991. Staat en Berberminoriteit. Sharqiyyat, 3/4, 13-45.

Sachdev, I. and R.Y. Bourhis. 1990. Language and Social Identification. Pp. 211-229 in D.
Abrams and M.D. Hogg (Eds) Social Identity Theory: Constructive and Critical Advances.
Hertfordshire: Harvester Wheatsheaf.

Tajfel, H. 1974. Social Identity and Intergroup Behaviour. Social Science Information, 13, 65-
93.

Tajfel, H. 1974a. Intergroup Behaviour, social comparison and social change. Katz-Newcomb
Lectures, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Tajfel, H. and J.C.Turner 1986. The Social Identity Theory of Intergroup Behaviour, In
S.Worchel and W.G.Austin (eds) Psychology of Intergroup Relations, Chicago: Nelson-Hall,
Inc. pp.7-24.

Youssi, A. 1989. Lexical Processes in the Berber of the Media in Morocco. Pp. 264-281 in J.
Pleines (Ed). La linguistique au Maghreb. Rabat: Editions Okad.

APPENDIX 1: ACADEMIC WORK ON BERBER (Theses and Dissertations).

By October 1989, the number of dissertations (Ph.D, MA, and DES) prepared in fields related
to Berber amounted to about 60 (Chaker: 1989: 127). These can be partitioned according to the
academic degree they were prepared for, the variety of Berber, and the disciplines they dealt
with.

30 Moroccans and 11 Algerians were among the authors of these works.

36 theses are `doctorats de 3ème cycle' (French equivalent of an MA), prepared in France.

6 are `doctorats d'état' (French and Moroccan equivalent of a Ph.D.), prepared in France.

14 are Ph.D. dissertations, prepared in The US (9), Great Britain (2), Canada (1), and Nigeria (1)

4 are `Diplome d'études superieures'(DES, Moroccan equivalent of an MA), prepared in


Morocco (By 1989 there were at least 6; see below).

With respect to the disciplines treated in these works, they are partitioned as follows:

39 dealt with language, mainly with descriptive linguistics, (morpho-syntax, phonology, lexicon,
sociolinguistics)

10 dealt with literature.

4 dealt with ethnomusicology.

4 dealt with issues related to didactics, identity, and culture.

This is an incomplete list of work on Berber. An updated monthly bibliography is edited by


Chaker and published in Aix-en-Provence by EDISUD. Below is a list of some references to
theses and dissertations that were available to me.

MA DISSERTATIONS.

Akouau, A. 1976. L'expression de la qualité en berbère:le verbe, parler de base:le ta helhiyt de


Tiznit. Thèse de 3ème cycle. Paris, EPHE.

Benkhalloq, B.1987. Les structures focalisées en berbère. Thèse de D.E.S. Rabat: Faculté des
Lettres.

Cadi. K. 1987. Système Verbal Rifain. Thèse de 3ème cycle. Paris: Selaf

Chaker, S.1976.(On the syntaxe of Kabyle Berber).

Chami, M. 1979. Un parler amazigh du rif Marocain. Approche phonologique et


morphologique. Thèse de 3ème cycle. Université René Descartes, Paris V.

El Aissati, A. 1989. A Study of the Phonotactics of Asht Touzine Tarifiyt Berber. Thèse de
DES. Faculté des Lettres. Rabat

El Kirat, Y. 1987. Spirantization in the Beni Iznassen Dialect: Diachrony and Synchrony. Thèse
de DES. Faculty of Letters, Rabat.
El Medlaoui, M. 1985. Le parler berbère chleuh d'Imdlawn: segments et syllabation. Thèse de
3ème cycle. Université de Paris VIII.

El Moujahid, E. 1981. La classe du nom dans un parler de la langue tamazight: Le tachelhiyt


d'Igherm. Thèse de 3ème cycle. Paris V.

Guerssel, M. 1976. Issues in Berber Phonology. M.A.Thesis. University of Washington.

Jebbour, A. 1988. Processus de formation de pluriel en Berber (Tachelhit de Tiznit): Approche


non-concatenative. Thèse de DES. Faculté des Lettres, Rabat.

Koucha, A. 1983. Linguistic Variation and Code-switching in the Souss Valley: a


Sociolinguistic Approach. Thèse de DES. Rabat: Faculté des Lettres.

Moktadir, K. 1989. Non-concatenative Morphology of Tachelhit. Thèse de DES. Faculty of


Letters, Rabat.

Taifi, M. 1979. Le tamazight au contact de l'Arabe dialectale: Etude sociolinguistique sur le


parler Ait Mguild. Thèse de 3ème cycle. Paris: Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes.

Ph.D Dissertations:

Boukous, A. 1987. Phonotactique et domaines prosodiques en berbère (Parler Tachelhit


d'Agadir). Thèse de Doctorat d'état. Université Paris VIII.

Chaker, M.S. 1983. Un parler berbère d'Algerie (Kabylie): syntaxe. Publication de l'Université
de Provence, diffusion J.Laffite.

Chtatou, M. 1982. Aspects of the Phonology of a Berber dialect of the Rif. Ph.D.Dissertation.
School of Oriental and African Studies, London.

Ennaji, M. 1985. Contrastive Syntax (Berber, Moroccan Arabic, and English). K & N,
Würzburg.

Ouahalla, M. 1988. The Syntax of Head Movement: A Study of Berber. Ph.D. University
College, London.

Saib, J. 1976. A Phonological Study of Berber Berber: Dialect of the Ayt Ndhir.
Ph.D.Dissertation. University of California, Los Angeles.

Sadiqi, F. 1986. Studies in Berber Syntax. K & N, Würzburg.


{PRIVATE } Domains Oral Graphic

1.Education LA, F, MA, T LA , F,_____


LA , F, MA, T ____________
2.Speeches,
Conferences
3.Radio LA, F, MA, T ____________

4.Television ____________

LA,
F,
MA,
T

5.Disques F, LA, MA
_____
_______

6.Cinema MA. LA, F F, LA

7.Theater _________ X

8.Edition _________ LA, F, T, MA


9.National dailies _________ LA, F, MA
___
10.Foreign dailies _________ F, LA
11.Bank, Industry, MA, F, F, X
Commerce T____
12.Magazines _________ LA, F
13.Advertising LA, F, MA F, LA

14.Inscriptions, _________ F , LA

Table 1: Languages and domains in Morocco (MA: Moroccan Arabic, LA: Literary Arabic, T:
Tamazight (Berber), F: French; ___: non-existence of use; X: data missing).
{PRIVATE Status demography Institutional support Overall
}Group vitality
Morocco Low High Low Low-Medium
Algeria Low Medium Low Low(medium)

Table 2: Vitality of Berber communities in Morocco and Algeria.

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